Remove the pygmt.test function from pygmt/__init__.py?

[seisman]

The pygmt/__init__.py file provides a test function:

pygmt/pygmt/__init__.py

Line 187 in e4ee800

def test(doctest=True, verbose=True, coverage=False, figures=True):

With this test function, users can run pygmt.test() to run the full tests.

I think we should remove this function based on the following reasons:

1. The function was first added in commit ef1fa9c in 2017, and there is almost no changes/maintenance since then (https://github.com/GenericMappingTools/pygmt/blame/main/pygmt/__init__.py#L187).
2. The pygmt.test() is useless for regular users, because the baseline images hosted by DVC are not available in regular pip/conda packages.
3. For PyGMT maintainers, the Makefile provides more powerful targets like test/fulltest/doctest/test_no_images to test PyGMT, and no one has used pygmt.test before.
4. The pygmt.test() function is not documented in the current documentation, so removing it won't cause any backward-incompatibility. Related PR: Remove "Full test" section from the installation guide #1200

Let's have a vote: 👍 for removing it and 👎 for keeping it. Or you can leave your thoughts/comments here.

[weiji14]

Agree with removing it. There is also no code coverage currently for this pygmt.test function (see https://app.codecov.io/gh/GenericMappingTools/pygmt/blob/release-v0.9.0/pygmt%2F__init__.py#L185), so this would bump up the codecov metrics slightly.

The only reference I found of pygmt.test() on GitHub at https://github.com/search?q=pygmt.test%28%29&type=code is someone that's been scraping the PyGMT issues for some AI model 😅

[weiji14]

The pygmt.test() function is not documented in the current documentation, so removing it won't cause any backward-incompatibility.

Actually, we do have it documented at https://www.pygmt.org/v0.9.0/api/generated/pygmt.test.html, but I don't think it would be a breaking change since pygmt.test isn't used to process data or produce figures. We could skip the deprecation cycle, and just decide to remove it?

[seisman]

The pygmt.test() function is not documented in the current documentation, so removing it won't cause any backward-incompatibility.

Actually, we do have it documented at https://www.pygmt.org/v0.9.0/api/generated/pygmt.test.html, but I don't think it would be a breaking change since pygmt.test isn't used to process data or produce figures. We could skip the deprecation cycle, and just decide to remove it?

Yes to me.